Flea Markets

On your drive from the interstate into Gatlinburg you pass two flea markets. We were really stoked about getting to go to both of these and were looking forward to Friday. But let me tell you, it was the most disappointing flea market experience I ever had!




the buildings were half empty!

really cool computer booth.

LOTS of furbys.


comics are cool i guess. travis bought one called "suicide squad"

i feel like these pictures make it look better than it was. what you don't see: sick puppy mill puppies, expired food, close out piles of broken crap, perfume, cheap cheap cheap clothes, NOTHING i was interested in at all. i think we found two booths with vintage and there wasn't anything good. so sad.



my review.

ahhhh, much better. even if they don't allow pictures inside.

we ate dinner at a touristy place called the mill. they give you tons of food but nothing is really spectacular. except maybe the banana pudding. next time we're in the area i'm going to do more restaurant research so we can find some actually good food.

look at all that salty food!carrots, backed apples, creamed corn, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, fried okra, catfish, rolls, and we also had soup AND salad. geeeeeze.

after dinner we went in this cat store and i almost cried when i petted one of their resident cats. because i missed having a little furry friend in my lap. (I currently have one pug in my lap and one next to me and i couldn't be happier)
The moral of this story, don't go to the flea markets around gatlinburg! they are awful! unless you want to buy 5 bras for 20 dollars. or a boxer puppy with worms. then you are in luck.

Magiquest!

Ok, not that I've ever tried to hide the fact that I am a huge nerd, but this is going to be a really REALLY nerdy post. You have been warned.
On the fifth day of our trip it was supposed to rain. So it seemed like the perfect day to do this:


Magiquest! Dana mentioned it and we debated a lot about wether we were going to go. I think we were all worried that it would be really lame and not worth the price Well, I'm so glad we went!


First you pick your wand (even though we all know the wand chooses the wizard). Look how cute Dana is, wearing my favorite colors to visit me.

Ready for the quest! We all had to pick magi names.

You have to sign this very serious contract. I can't remember what my Magi name was.

I thought that it was going to be some kind of laser tag with wands. But that wasn't it at all. It is mostly puzzle solving. There are three different "realms" and you have to find items with clues. And when you wave your wand treasure chests open and things talk and light up. It sounds lame, I know, but it was really fun! Travis, Dana, and I were able to finish all the quests in our alloted time, so we are Master Magi. AND there are teenagers dressed in "magic robes" and a funny wizard that gives you instructions and a silly computer animated fairy that talks to you. If we go back we take our same wands and it saves all your info and you get to do other adventures. I don't think it would be fun if you went during the busy season, and I don't think it would be fun with small kids. There were a few parents there with 3 and 4 year olds who looked miserable.


Included in our entry is a game of black light pirate mini golf! they play the same two songs over and over and make you feel crazy! Travis was really good and won the game.


They also have the world's largest mirror maze!! It might have been the best part of our whole vacation. It was amazing. Everyone has to wear gloves so the mirrors are really clean and it was so freaky! You would think you were running towards your friends only to have them come up right behind you! Or it really looked like there were 5 of each of you and you CAN'T TELL which one is real! So freaking fun. Once we got to the end we went back into the maze and got lost again. They also had strobe lights and dance music. I want to go back just to do the maze again!


Soooo Magiquest was awesome. Totally worth the price. We'll probably go back next time we're in Pigeon Forge so we can battle the dragon.

After our strenuous adventure we got some much needed ice cream.

we continue our nerd day back at the cabin by playing settlers of catan all night! thomas taught us to play and now we are OBSESSED. We played almost every night of our vacation.

It is kind of like risk, but with AGRICULTURE. We actually went over to crystal's house last night and played with one of the expansion packs, with islands and boats! I have kind of gotten a bad attitude about it because i haven't won even ONCE. And I am more competitive than I like to think. 

Phyllis and Priscilla

I have had crazy blog giveaway luck lately. I'll make another post about the big pile of stuff that has shown up in my mailbox, but I had to give this its own post! I won this giveaway from Kaelah at Little Chief Honeybee  (seriously cant wait to get my rosita mustache portrait!) and part of it was a custom creation by Lifemintsweet on etsy. I asked her to do a portrait of Phyllis and Priscilla and this is what she made for me!



how freaking cute is that?? I was cracking up before I even got the box open at Phyllis' tongue.
i absolutely love it! and look at the tails!


so yeah. i am in love with this little sculpture. Now I have to decide on the perfect place to keep it so I can see it every day. I really think she should offer pet portraits on her etsy.

Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers!

Did you think I was done with vacation photos? No way! I hope you aren't tired of them yet. I actually hate that no one who blogs ever posts much about their vacation. Maybe they do more relaxing than I do. Maybe they don't take pictures? I don't know. I LOVE seeing people's vacation photos so I can get ideas for my next trip. (which happens to be to florida in february for a wedding, which means, WIZARDING WORLD!) So anyway, one of the places you HAVE TO go to in Gatlinburg if you love vintage and kitsch is the Museum of the Salt and Pepper Shakers!


we went last time we were in town and it was just as awesome the second time.

so you can kind of get an idea of what it looks like.

this is the personal collection of the owner! over 20,000 sets!! they are organized in loose categories. that is one of the vegetable cases. even with that many shakers i saw barely any of the ones that I have in my collection.  You could probably collect them for your whole life and never collect all the sets that are out there.

these little dudes were in the ocean set. i'm not sure what they are supposed to be but i love them.

this shelf made me think of betty crafter!

so many owls. and squirrels.


LOVE those bostons! i wish all the sets were for sale.

dog section.


vacation sets, and cats! the cats were probably the cutest there.

i love the little blue and orange ducks, and the ducks with the long intwined necks!

did i mention one of my best friends, dana, came and joined us for the day? so awesome! we were in teh museum for a few hours. you can kind of play i spy with each other. and take a million pictures.

map of visitors. the big pins are for collectors.
So the Salt and Pepper Shaker museum is awesome! It only costs three bucks! And that goes towards any purchase in the gift shop. But she has the sets priced REALLY high in the gift shop. The museum is actually for sale now! So if you feel like you could make it your career...

Back to estate sales

I haven't been to a great estate sale in so long! I got spoiled over the summer with houses just stuffed full of awesome vintage! Last weekend Travis and I went to a sale at a house up a long long driveway, with gorgeous views. Sadly, even on the first day of the sale the house was pretty empty. But they did have this...


a table full of beautiful vintage photos! i keep expanding the parameters about what i "collect". So now it is pictures with dogs, vacation photos, christmas, cute outfits, sassy guys, or anything weird. i just got one of a lady holding a baby out of a window. so hilarious! i kind of wish i had gone back on the last day and scooped up some more of these photos. i don't know if it was a collection, or just ALL of their family photos were great.


table of linens. i've had to cool it on embroidered doilies. what am i going to do with them?

estate sales are so glamourous. haha.

there were a bunch of pictures of that fat little terrier. i wish i knew his story!

Christmas and a dog! (dixie) if my door wasn't so cute already (it is bright red with a sweet little window), I would wrap it up like that! Travis picked the picture of the ladies showing off their fur coats. The back says 'Margaret and I got mink stoles for Xmas so we thought we'd do a little modeling"


My first pug! this one is from the 70s and isn't something I would have normally gotten, but it was a pug so I had too! The back says "sassy hess (5 years old) isabel baby hess (11 years old)" so cute.


the rest of my stuff. from a few different sales. fabric, hand made shelf, my first fridgie!

mushroom soup bowls! 25 cents for two.

some super sharp sewing scissors. 25 cents!

ANOTHER cookie press. Now i have three! But this one had the box and recipe book! and was only a buck. Now that I think of it, I have four if you count a modern one.


I love the doggy plate. Obviously.

and a handful of pretty spoons to use in my lunch box. I like the ones with the letters best.
Have you ever had an estate sale dry spell? I can't wait for it to be over! It took me all day, and 5 sales to get that little haul!